Ecuador: Intern Luci’s Last PostEditor’s Note: High school junior Luci Bryson, daughter of SIFAT training director Kathy Bryson, is spending six weeks this summer as an intern with SIFAT Ecuador. Having already been part of Learn & Serve programming and training events both on our Galilee Campus and internationally, Luci is helping our teams in Ecuador and improving her Spanish translating skills. You can read her first entry and second entry. It’s been one week since I’ve returned to Sweet Home Alabama. I’ve never felt more exhausted in my life, but I’m warm and content. Today is my second day at home as we went to Brasher Springs Camp Meeting and the Flippen-Shaw-Barkley family reunion. Wednesday, Jennessa, Evie and I are traveling to visit Brianna in Chicago. It’s been seven months since we’ve last all been together, so it will be nice to use this little window of time before Jennessa goes back to school in Boston, and Evie and I start our new life in Costa Rica with Mom. If it’s one thing from this summer that I’ve learned, it’s how much of an importance family has. But family is a broad term.  During her summer in Ecuador, Luci found an extended family in Aida Leon.
Ecuador: Intern Luci Checks InEditor’s Note: High school junior Luci Bryson, daughter of SIFAT training director Kathy Bryson, is spending six weeks this summer as an intern with SIFAT Ecuador. Having already been part of Learn & Serve programming and training events both on our Galilee Campus and internationally, Luci is helping our teams in Ecuador and improving her Spanish translating skills. You can read her first entry here. Greetings to all! You’ll have to forgive me for not writing to you all these past two weeks–to tell you the truth, there really never was a free moment to sit down and write! Since I last wrote, we have had three different teams of which I’ve had the pleasure to work with two of the three–Faith United Methodist Church and Guntersville FUMC . Aldersgate UMC was the third team, and I only had a chance to visit with them at night in the hotel.
 Add Felipe’s babysitter to the list of the many ways Luci is helping this our teams this summer! Felipe is the son of one of the ladies who cooks for the teams serving in Aida Leon. Ecuador: Intern Luci’s First Week in QuitoEditor’s Note: High school junior Luci Bryson, daughter of SIFAT training director Kathy Bryson, is spending six weeks this summer as an intern with SIFAT Ecuador. Having already been part of Learn & Serve programming and training events both on our Galilee Campus and internationally, Luci is helping our teams in Ecuador and improving her Spanish translating skills. This is the first installment of her trip journal. June 11 — Today marks day 11 of my internship here in Ecuador. It seems that there hasn’t been a single moment to sit down and write. This past week, I worked with a medical team from Pensacola translating, and wow, how very eye opening it truly was for me! Literally. One time, I translated for an older gentleman who had never experienced glasses. Being able to translate his words to the doctors– connecting two languages for a clearer vision really cleared my own. I’m not only here to translate, but I am here as a bridge between two cultures. This first week, I have been hit hard with how much of what I considered “common sense” to really be another word I used for past experiences. It amazed me how shocked many were, even in tears, at the poverty that is so prevalent here in Quito–especially during the home visits at Villaflora.
 Luci Bryson, SIFAT Ecuador intern, translated for VBS and a medical clinic, hosted by the St. Luke UMC (Pensacola) mission team, during her first week in Ecuador. Ecuador: Mission Team Members Needed!We need you to join with us this year to serve the people of Ecuador! Several of our 2018 teams need extra members now to complete their teams. In February, SIFAT broke ground on a new construction project in Aida Leon in the southern part of Quito. Teams will be working with SIFAT graduate Pastor Wilson and his church for the next three years on a project called Gotitas de Esperanza, Teardrops of Hope. When completed, this building will allow for care of an additional 200 children who might otherwise be on the streets when not in school. We need construction and VBS workers on each team. Please consider joining one of the teams listed below today while airline tickets are still available.
 Construction has begun on the Aida Leon project in Ecuador! Team members are needed to fill spaces on several teams this year! Available DatesThe following teams have openings and are asking for people to join their teams: 5/12 – 5/20 Clear Lake UMC, Clear Lake, Texas (all ages welcome) 6/2 – 6/9 St. Luke’s UMC, Tupelo, Miss. (youth team; great for youth, college students & young adults) 6/9 – 6/16 Faith UMC, Pinson, Ala. (all ages welcome) 6/30 – 7/7 Eufaula FUMC (youth team; great for youth, college students & young adults) 10/13 – 10/20 Bonifay FUMC, Bonifay, Fla. – medical team (doctors and nurse practitioners needed; may be serving a different SIFAT Ecuador project site) Ecuador: New Regulations = New Concrete EquipmentIn 2018, the Aida Leon project will break ground in Ecuador! However, new building codes and government regulations will not allow us to mix concrete by hand, as teams have done for the last 17 years in the traditional building style of Quito. SIFAT Ecuador’s engineer, Edwin Contreras, told us that inspectors were enforcing these new rules and even requiring some buildings to be torn down because of a lack of compliance. While it is the improving codes that are requiring the new equipment, we know many of our team members are excited about how much easier preparing concrete to pour columns will be!  Because of new building codes, SIFAT Ecuador must buy a concrete mixer and vibrator before the first mission team to Aida Leon arrives in February. |
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